


Return of the Padawan (Out of Darkness)

by Thorkyriebabes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Anakin Skywalker, F/M, Gen, Grey Jedi, I thank everyone who has ever had that idea as my inspiration, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Jedi purge, Other, Sith Anakin Skywalker, Ventress is Ashoka's roommate, Younglings, grey Ashoka tano
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22722190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorkyriebabes/pseuds/Thorkyriebabes
Summary: Facing her former master, she can hardly recognize him. He's wearing dark robes as he steps into the room, and before one of the younglings, a little blonde boy, can speak, she steps in front of them. The force is screaming, cold, and dark. Her bond with him, dormant for months now, flares with pain and cold and darkness. He's Fallen. The force screams at her, begging her to bring him back. "Anakin, please don't make me do this," she begs him, her hands on her borrowed sabers. He ignites his saber, still blue. She ignites her sabers, glowing red. "Anakin, you can still turn back, come back to me, to Padme, please," Ashoka tries again. He advances, and she blocks him with the sabers she borrowed, red against blue.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 77





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ashoka left the order, she found a roommate in Ventress, who took her in and taught her a little about bounty hunting. Ventress also lets Ashoka use her lightsabers on occasion, as Ashoka turned hers in when she left the order in my story. They both sense something changing in the force as Anakin falls, and know they need to get off planet. In this chapter, they discuss Ashoka's plans to go to the temple and ask for help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written a full length fanfic, and I'm kind of mildly terrified. But I feel like this is a story I must tell.

Ashoka can feel it, the screaming pain in the force. Darkness envelopes her, and she can’t feel anything but pain.Then, she wakes screaming in her bed. She gets up immediately, running into the small kitchen of her apartment. “We have to get off the planet. Something is going to happen, we have to leave,” she paces, trying to figure out how. Security is tight, ever since Dooku’s death, and the lack of a ship is kind of an issue. When she’d heard the news that Anakin, the Hero With No Fear, had killed Dooku, she’d wanted to celebrate, but the force had told her that something was wrong. That Dooku, for all he had done, had not needed to die. During the blockade, when she’d heard that the chancellor had been kidnapped, the same feeling that something was off had surfaced. Whatever was happening, it was upsetting the force. 

“How? Our last job cost us our ship, kid,” Ventress reminds her, as if she doesn’t already know that. Their last job had cost them a lot more than their ship. Instead of the credits they’d been promised, they’d lost their ship, her blasters, and a close ally, another bounty hunter Ventress trusted enough to ask for help.

“I… Could go to the temple. Ask for transport off planet, or the funds to secure it. I could ask for my lightsabers back, maybe, too?” She’d been using Asajj’s sabers to practice her forms, even learning new material from the former darksider. But despite Asajj no longer using them for any dark purposes, she’s refused to purify the crystals. Thus, they remain red, despite Ashoka’s protests.

“And trust the Jedi? After what they did to you?” Her trial had been a farce. Now she could see it clearly. Barriss, her closest friend in the temple, had betrayed her, left her to be sentenced to death. But something else had been interfering as well, someone else had known. Barriss had to have been manipulated by someone into such complete betrayal. And something told Ashoka that whoever it was had deliberately targeted Ashoka as the fall guy. 

“No. I would not trust them, but they would help me. I would figure out how to make sure it extends to you.” She needed Ventress. Without the Dathomiri woman, she’d have died within a week of leaving the temple. Despite her master torturing Ventress during her trial in his desperation to prove Ashoka’s innocence, Asajj had rescued Ashoka a second time from the streets of the lower levels of Coruscant, had taken her in and given her food, shelter, force training, and work to do.

“I don’t like this, Ashoka. But I feel it too.” Unspoken, Ashoka can still hear the words her roommate chooses not to say. ‘The force is changing. Something is going to happen. Fleeing is a good idea.’ Perhaps she and Ventress have a training bond, or perhaps after living with her for so many months, she can simply read between the lines when Asajj speaks. 

“Then you know we have to leave.” Leaving. Fleeing. The mark of a coward. If Ashoka were still a Jedi, she would scoff at the idea, but now it is coming out of her mouth. She can’t do anything about whatever is going to happen anyway.

“I don’t think we should rely on the Jedi for it.” Ventress has a point here. The Jedi have no obligation to help either of them. But something is telling her that she needs to go to the temple. 

Whatever is going to happen, it’s going to happen today. It might already be happening. “I don’t think we have many other options on such short notice.”

Ventress seems wary. She doesn’t want to lose her friend. A year ago, Ashoka thinks Asajj would not have cared about anyone but herself. But now...“Take my lightsabers, then. I don’t understand why they gave them back to me, but wouldn’t give yours back to you.” 

Ashoka sighs. “It was my choice to leave the order. I knew that I would be leaving them behind. But… if I am going to the temple, I might try asking for them in addition to transport.” It wouldn’t hurt to ask. Or even steal them from the armory. She needs her own lightsabers. Or even just one saber. She hates leaving her friend without good weapons. 

From the expression on her face, Asajj clearly doesn’t want Ashoka to go at all. But still, she gives approval anyway. “Comm me when you have the transport secured.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me feedback, all constructive criticism is welcome. If you have any suggested edits to make it flow better or seem more in character, please let me know. Like I said, this is the first time I've ever even started writing something of this magnitude. I have a bit of the next chapter written, but I feel as if it needs to be fleshed out. It should be posted either today or by Sunday.


	2. Order 66

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the temple, Ashoka tries to seek out the help of the council. Instead, she ends up protecting a group of younglings as the order dies out around them, going so far as to fight Anakin to protect them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised myself I'd write my admissions essays for my transfer apps and get my chem and bio notes done before I wrote this chapter, but I just can't stop. This is addicting to write. And the words flow so easily compared to admissions essays. Probably because I hate talking about myself in essays. No beta here, but for the most part any obvious grammar mistakes (such as polysyndeton) are intentional. If anything pops out that seems out of character, or there are any spelling mistakes, or really really awful grammar mistakes, feel free to let me know, I always take constructive criticism

Ashoka can feel it, as she approaches the temple. The darkness is surging around her in waves, threatening to drown her. Taking her hood off, she walks into the temple, no one stopping her, which is odd. Normally, a temple guard would at least check her clearance. Can they feel the darkness approaching too? 

Where to go from here, that is the real question. She could try the treasury, ask directly for the credits she needs for a ship or tickets for a transport. She could go to the hangar, ask for a ship to borrow and promise to return it. She could go to the armory, to ask for her lightsabers and/or steal them. Right now, she has lightsabers, so she has no immediate need for hers. She just needs to get them before she leaves. Going to the hangar would be… a terrible idea. She’d been accused of blowing a hangar up, after all. Not exactly the best place to return to. And even for knights and masters, the treasury is incredibly hard to get anything out of. Only if they have direct orders and extensive proof of need for credits in order to fulfill said orders are they allowed credits. She’s watched Anakin argue with the treasury Masters enough times to know she won’t succeed there. 

Where else could she ask for help? She could ask a friend for a favor, but it probably won’t go over well, even if she did have any friends to ask. Briefly, she considers asking Anakin himself, but something in the force protests against it. Another council member might be able to help her, though. Or the council itself, if she can convince them that they should at the very least provide her with what she needs to start a new life off planet, to make up for alienating her from the order she’d grown up in. So she goes to the council chamber. And she finds that no one is in it. The force sings a warning, trying to tell her something. She doesn’t know what, though, and the darkness in the force is swirling so violently that she can’t make anything out at all. She activates the comm in the room, trying to reach someone. Anyone. No one picks up. Pain erupts through the force, and she nearly keels over as she begins to feel so many light force users- Jedi- join the living force, leaving this universe behind. 

A dark figure is leading legions of clone troopers up the steps of the temple, and she watches in horror as they begin to shoot down the Jedi they’d once fought beside. The dark figure wields a blue lightsaber, but cuts down Jedi after Jedi. A traitor, someone who’s betrayed the temple and the order far worse than she could ever imagine. Not believing her eyes, Ashoka blinks a few times, trying to make sense of what is happening. But the force tells her that what she is seeing is true. Shaking her head out of her shocked stupor, Ashoka quickly leaves the council chamber, only to find a group of younglings desperate to find a place to hide.   
“Quickly, young ones,” she urges them, herding them into the council chamber. “Hide, no matter what, do not come out until I say so.” She should be fleeing, leaving the temple before she dies too. She won’t. Nothing will hurt these younglings while she is still living

“Miss Ashoka, there’s too many of them,” a human boy says, big blue eyes staring up at her. He looks… so similar to the few holos she’s seen of Anakin as a child.

“I’ll be okay, young ones. I am no Jedi. Perhaps they will not attack me. Now hide. Do not come out. No matter what you hear. If I die, hide until there is no one around, then find a transport. Go to this address,” she rattles off the coordinates for her and Ventress’s apartment, “and tell the woman there that I am gone. She will find a way to help you,” Ashoka promises, though she isn’t completely sure Asajj Ventress will do any such thing. She sends a message anyway, in text: ‘the temple is being attacked, the clones have turned on the jedi. Do not leave the apartment.’ Thinking quickly, she also sends Padme a message. ‘Padme, you need to get off of Coruscant. The clones are attacking the Jedi temple, I fear the Senate may be next. If you can, please send credits to my apartment so Asajj and I can arrange our own transport. I will find a way to contact you. I love you.’

The younglings seem to pick up on her doubt over Ventress aiding them, making faces, but she shakes her head, repeating her instructions and address, then making them hide and kneeling in the center of the room, hands on her sabers. She reaches into the force, using the meditation technique Asajj taught her to find a battle trance. Pulling on both the light and the dark, she focuses on her feelings of love for these younglings and hate for whoever has betrayed the temple so utterly and completely. Soon, she feels both sides of the force swirling around her, guiding her to stand just before the door of the council chamber opens. When she opens her eyes, she cannot believe what she sees. But the force says it is no illusion. What she is seeing, as horrible as it is, is true

Facing her former master, she can hardly recognize him. He is made of hate and anger, the bright light that he’d once been is now a black hole, sucking the light out of the room. He's wearing dark robes as he steps into the room, and before one of the younglings, a little blonde boy, can speak, she steps in front of them. The force is screaming, cold, and dark. Her bond with him, dormant for months now, flares with pain and cold and darkness. He's Fallen. The force screams at her, begging her to bring him back, to bring balance. "Anakin, please don't make me do this," she begs him, her hands on her borrowed sabers. He ignites his saber, still blue. She ignites her sabers, glowing red. "Anakin, you can still turn back, come back to me, to Padme, to your family, please," Ashoka tries again. He advances, and she blocks him with the sabers she borrowed, twin red against a single blue. 

Reaching out into the swirling force around her, she focuses on the love she has for these younglings, baring her teeth at her former master as she spins out of the way of his saber, attacking him with a barrage of blows. “I will not let you kill younglings, Master. You will have to kill me first. Padme will never forgive you if you do.”

“I’m doing this to  _ save  _ Padme! _ ” _ Vader snarls, advancing as he parries every move she makes. Even with her added training from Asajj, she is no match for him. Obi-Wan, maybe, if he’d been here, could have fought off this darkness. But he would have killed Anakin, rather than let him live in darkness. He’s always been better at letting go. Ashoka would never be able to bring herself to kill Anakin. Her master. He raised her, treated her as if she were his own child. Loved her, though the code forbids it. If she dies, trying to bring him out of darkness, then it will simply be the will of the force.

Her mind races. What is he trying to save Padme from? As she continues to deliver blow after blow, her red sabers clashing with Anakin’s blue, she reaches out into the force, into their long dormant training bond, using it to force her way into his mind, looking for what he is trying to save Padme from. Then she sees it. Padme, dying in childbirth. But the dark side of the force… It distorts the vision. It doesn’t ring completely true in the force. “Master, the dark side corrupts your dream,” she tries, pushing her love for him towards him through their bond, as an attempt to distract him and bring him back. “Please, Master. If you kill me, if you kill younglings, even if you save her from death, she’ll hate you for the rest of her life. You’ll lose her if you continue down this path,” she warns, but it is no use. He’s knocked the blades out of her hands, his lightsaber is hovering a centimeter away from her neck. “If you do this, the only thing Padme will die from is a broken heart, Master.”

“LIES!” He shouts, lifting her up with the force, using it to constrict her airway. She claws at her throat, trying to erect some form of barrier against it in the force. He’s too far gone. Her words aren’t getting through to him, he’s going to kill her anyway. 

“Please, Master, you’re like a fa- a father to me, I love you,” she gasps out in a last ditch attempt, just before she blacks out. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always seen Padme and Anakin as almost like... Ashoka's adoptive parents, if that makes sense. Before this takes place but after Ashoka left the order, I imagine she would have found a way to talk to Padme every so often.  
> So why doesn't she go to Padme to get off planet? Well, one, plot wise, it wouldn't put her in Anakin's path at such a critical turning point. Even if she'd been there to see Anakin after he'd destroyed the temple, it doesn't put her directly in the action, she wouldn't know of what he's done, and therefore, she wouldn't have the knowledge of him falling. Even if she'd been able to feel it in the force or something, it would be hard to get through to him at that point. And again, He'd have killed younglings and everyone in the temple by that point. Her warnings about Padme never forgiving him would be too late.  
> Ashoka doesn't even consider Padme as an option in the first chapter because the force is already telling her to go to the temple. Rationally, without the force, from her point of view, she'd probably think that she'd have more success asking Padme for help, because Padme could loan Ashoka her personal ship.


	3. Turning Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awakening in a medical bed, in a locked room, Ashoka attempts to escape, only for Anakin to stop her. She confronts him over what he has done, and leaves him to ponder other solutions to save Padme's life from what he has seen.

Ashoka finds herself in a ship when she opens her eyes. Which is weird, because she’s pretty sure she’s dead, isn’t she supposed to join the living force? Maybe she’s a force ghost. But that can’t be right, because she’s hooked up to some kind of vitals monitoring system, as she can hear a beeping in time with her heartbeat. So, either not dead, or this afterlife is really, really weird. Not dead actually seems more plausible. So. Not dead. 

Rather than debate what not being dead means in her head, Ashoka stands up and turns off the monitoring equipment off, freeing herself of the equipment before looking at the door of the room. She wasn’t handcuffed to the bed, so perhaps she hasn’t been taken prisoner. But when she goes to open the door, it is locked. She backs up, looking around the room for a hint of what, or who’s ship this is. The room is very plain, the equipment, while slightly outdated, is in good condition. It is devoid of any plants, and there is no window to look out of. It’s military, then, and clearly used by someone high ranking enough to warrant a medical suite. 

Back to the door, then. Kneeling, Ashoka attempts to tap into the force to open the lock. Horrified, she finds that a massive blockade has been erected around her mind, huge walls of darkness block her access to the force. Only one person could ever access her mind so intimately as to block her from the force like she is now. But… that also means that he must have intentionally avoided killing her. Perhaps she got through to him after all.

Sighing, Ashoka closes her eyes, focusing inward on this blockade. As she meditates, she notices a few things. One, it feels as if… As if it is one-way. As if she can’t feel anything outside of it, but it is watching her, reporting back. Then he knows that she is awake, most likely. Depending on the size of the ship, and what he’s in the middle of doing, she likely only has a few more moments. Cut off from the force, and without her lightsabers, she’ll have no way of fighting back, realistically. And a battle trance is all but impossible. Opening her eyes, Ashoka stands up and backs up, looking for something to use as a weapon, anything to defend herself long enough to escape. 

A needle she finds in a drawer, filled with an unknown substance, is all she can come up with. It will have to be enough. Just as she picks it up, the door opens. Anakin, dressed in his typical dark robes and long, dark cloak, is beyond.

“Snips, put that down,” Anakin warns, his hands raised as an attempt to placate her, slowly stepping into the room.

Ashoka opens her mouth, but she finds that she cannot speak. Glaring, she points to her vocal chords. ‘You did this to me,’ the padawan projects as loudly as she can at the walls around her in the force. ‘You nearly killed me. Don’t speak as if you’re my master. My master would  _ never _ be as vile as you.’ As she communicates through what little access to the force she has, her eyes water, and tears begin to fall without her input. 

“Ashoka, please,” He tries a second time, gently using the force to take it out of her hand. “I’m sorry, Ashoka.” Ashoka watches in horror as he removes the hood from his head. His eyes, once the pretty blue she’d always known, are a sickly yellow. Slowly, he steps closer, using his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Despite her anger, she allows it. 

‘Remove this blockade from my mind,’ she demands, pressing out against it. To her surprise, he does. Reaching out in the force, she shoves him hard, attempting to throw him off guard. But he simply blocks it,m not moving away from her, and it infuriates her. 

“Join me, Ashoka. We don’t have to fight. We can save Padme together,” he pleads, trying to calm her fury through their bond. And succeeding. She can feel her anger subsiding. She allows him to fold her into his arms, her tears absorbing into the fabric of his tunic.

‘Join you? So you can slaughter more? So I can help you slaughter more?’ Her hands shake as she thinks of it, shaking her head. She’d  _ never _ join him in his fall.

“Padme’s life is worth billions, Snips.” And, not to mention the child she carries. But no, saving Padme’s life, at the expense of the entire galaxy, is not worth it. Her heart aches to think of it, but it is the truth.

‘And what of my life? If your  _ Master,’ _ she hisses the word through their bond in disgust, ‘ordered you to kill me for the information he’s promised you?’ 

“I would kill him, and look into the holocrons to find another way. I could not choose one child over another,” he shakes his head, and finally, Ashoka smiles, though it is predatory and cunning. So he can think of another way, then. And now, to set the trap.  
‘Then why not kill him now? The holocrons will have the solution, if there is one.’ And force him to spring it. 

Anakin, Vader, pauses. Slowly, he turns, and leaves the room, his cape swooshing behind him. Softly, the door locks again, and she is yet again trapped. Well, Kriff. The trap she laid did nothing, then. He refused to spring it.

  
  



	4. Interlude: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padme creates uproar at the senate when she accuses Palpatine of being a Sith Lord. Then she and Bail flee to Ventress's apartment, where the younglings have fled as well.

Padme, during the Chancellor’s speech, slowly maneuvers her pod to the center of the Senate, close enough to the Chancellor’s pod that, if she were force sensitive, she could easily jump to it. Well, if she were force sensitive and not heavily pregnant. As the senate floor erupts in approval of the creation of an empire, Padme clutches her japor snippet underneath her dress. Slowly, she stands, making sure her voice is broadcast into every pod. “If this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause, I hope those applauding realize that they have condemned their worlds to live in slavery under a tyrranical man I once thought of as a friend. An empire will do nothing to ensure peace and prosperity, only suffering and pain will survive. You’ll continue to strengthen this man, who is neither a Chancellor or an Emperor, but Darth Sidious. The Sith Master, who-” But she is cut off by the Senate erupting again, this time in raging debate over her accusation. Seeing the clone troopers that wait to arrest her when she exits her pod, Padme clutches her blaster, sets it to stun, and fires five times. Gathering her skirt in one hand, she runs, Bail following her.  
Somehow, she is able to lead them to safety- not to her apartment, but to Ventress’s. Where she finds the former assassin… reading children to sleep? Younglings. Jedi Younglings. Once she and Bail have helped Ventress get them all to fall asleep, Padme sits down, twirling her blaster in her fingers. “We cannot stand idly by while Sidious creates an Empire,” she says, to break the tension.  
“And what do you suggest we do that won’t get us killed? We need to find a way to get off this planet, Senators. A rebellion can wait until we’re safe and have an established stronghold,” Ventress argues, and Bail nods with her.  
Outnumbered, Padme sighs, closing her eyes. “Very well. But I cannot be much help in any true battle. We need to go back to my apartment so we can get to my ship.”


	5. Interlude: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padme returns to her apartment to find her former handmaidens, and Obi-Wan. He shows her a Holovid of Anakin (apparently) killing Ashoka. Due to a slip of her tongue, he figures out that she is pregnant with Anakin's child.

Instead of clone troopers, waiting to arrest her, Padme finds her former handmaidens, loyally guarding her apartment as if she were still Queen. Tearfully, she hugs Sabé, following her into the apartment. Where she finds another surprise: Obi-Wan is waiting for her. “Obi-Wan? Oh, thank goodness, you’re alive!” 

Embracing him, she forgets that she’s told him nothing of her pregnancy. So, it is quite understandable when he, shocked, blurts “and you’re pregnant!” 

“Yes,” she nods, laughing slightly. “How did you…? Commander Cody, did he…?”

“He tried, but he did not succeed. I do not know if he lives,” Obi-Wan shakes his head, guiding her to sit. Grateful to be off her feet, she accepts the guidance, sitting with him. 

“Palpatine, he-”

“Is Darth Sidious, I know. Even before your speech, Anakin had informed the council. Those who were here went off to confront him, but… It clearly did not go well. Anakin is lost, Padme. He’s fallen to the dark side. He attacked-”  
“No,” she shakes her head. “That couldn’t have been him. Ashoka-”  
“He killed Ashoka, Padme. I saw it myself, on a holovid.”  
“No,” Padme shakes her head again, unwilling to believe that Anakin would ever hurt Ashoka. His padawan. His child. He would never. 

But, to her horror, Obi-Wan pulls out a holo-disc and plays the recording. “No, Ashoka isn’t dead. He wouldn’t be standing if she was, Obi-Wan,” She keeps shaking her head, standing up. “He would never kill one of his children.”

“One of?” Kenobi asks, eyes narrowing in on her swollen abdomen. “Padme, are you… it’s his?” 

Nodding, Padme slumps to the couch, starting to sob. Sabe comes over quickly, wrapping her arms around her Queen’s shoulders, glaring at the Jedi Master. He seems to get the message, because he leaves rather quickly.

  
  



	6. The Fires of Mustafar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashoka escapes Vader’s ship, only to come out of it to see Padme confronting him. Stepping in between them to guard Padme, she watches in silence, her voice still lost, as Padme pleads with him. Then, Obi-Wan emerges from Padme’s ship. Before Vader succeeds in choking his wife, Ashoka cuts off his arm. He still attempts to fight Obi-Wan, but he is severely outnumbered and outmatched. Padme arrests him using Naboo authority. She has Sabe send word to Naboo that they are on their way.

Meditating on her bed, Ashoka winces when Vader begins killing again. She can feel every death through their bond, each one sending her former master further into darkness. Wherever they are, it is hot enough that the ship is unable to completely cool the room. 

Opening her eyes, Ashoka stands up, going over to the door. She uses the force to open the lock, making her way down the hallway. At one door, the force hums, and Ashoka opens it to reveal an armory. Quickly, she finds both her lightsabers and Ventress’s. Anakin had… Kept her sabers? She can ponder it later, though. 

Stepping off the ship, Ashoka finds herself on a planet that resembles nearly every culture’s account of an underworld: a hellish, hot, fiery landscape that smells of sulfur. Slowly, she closes the hatch of the ship, only to feel something approaching the planet in the force. After a moment, she recognizes it as her Grandmaster’s signature- and the signature of two other force-sensitives, untrained, new, blinding in their lightness. 

She calls to Obi-Wan in the force, yet the ship does not touch down where she is, but across a ways from here she is. Sighing, she begins running towards it, though the atmosphere of this planet slows her, makes it hard for her to breathe properly. But before she can reach it, Vader emerges from the stronghold, and spots Padme, disembarking from the ship. Ashoka can’t do anything but watch and stay hidden, creeping towards the ship and keeping a wide berth away from him.   
“I saw your ship,” Vader breathes, “what are you doing out here?”

“I was so worried about you,” she pants, “Obi-Wan, he told me terrible things.”

“What things?”

“He said you turned to the dark side, that you,” Padme chokes up, letting out a sob, pushing him away, “That you- that you killed Ashoka.”   
“Obi-wan is trying to turn you against me,” Vader shakes his head in denial, taking her hand gently.

“He cares about us.”

“Us?”

Padme nods, “he knows, he wants to help you,” she promises him, her lip curling at the thought. “I saw it, Anakin. I saw you kill her!” She yanks her hand away, stalking away from him. But when she turns, she sees Ashoka, as the Torgruta boards her ship. Ashoka watches as something drops out of her hand- a poisoned barb. She also watches as Anakin glares at her, and she glares back, reminding him ‘if you try to stop me in front of her, she will hate you more.’

“See, Padme? She’s alive,” He pleads instead, wrapping his arms around his wife. 

“Anakin, all I want is for us to be a family, all I need is your love” she begs, hugging him carefully. 

“Love can’t save you, Padme, only my new powers can do that.”

“At what cost? You’re a good person, don’t do this!”

“I won’t lose you the way I lost my mother. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I’m doing it for you. To protect you.”

“Come away with us,” Padme pleads with him, looking back at Ashoka. “Help me raise our children, leave everything else behind while we still can!”

“Don’t you see? We don’t have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the republic-”   
‘NO!’ Ashoka shouts, through their bond, stalking over. “You have murdered the republic,” she rasps, though it puts her in immense pain.    
“I have more power than the Chancellor,” Vader continues, “I can overthrow him, and together, we can rule the Galaxy, make things the way we want them to be”   
Padme shakes her head, backing away from him, stepping slightly behind Ashoka. Tearing up, she sighs. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing. Obi-Wan was right, even if not about Ashoka. You’ve changed.”   
“I don’t wanna hear anymore about Obi-Wan,” his face twists in disgust, and Padme gently takes Ashoka’s arm, backing up and taking the Torgruta with her. “The Jedi turned against me, don’t you turn against me too!”

“I don’t know you anymore,” She sobs, tears streaming down her face. “Anakin, you’re breaking my heart. You’re going down a path I can’t follow!”

“Because of Obi-Wan?” Vader asks, raising his chin haughtily.

“Because of what you’ve done! What you plan to do!” She pants, “Stop! Stop now come back,” she pleads, as he looks at something on the ship. “I love you!”

“LIAR!” he shouts, and she and Ashoka both turn to see Obi-Wan on the ship. “You’re with him! You brought him here to kill me!” 

Ashoka feels him reach out in the force, and this time she is prepared. When he raises his arm to choke his wife, she ignites a saber, severing his arm at the shoulder. “ _ Don’t touch her!” _ Ashoka hisses, her second saber igniting as she faces him. She feels Padme take Ventress’s sabers off her belt, hears Padme ignite them. 

“I did not bring him here. He snuck aboard my ship,” Padme asserts, softly, as Vader ignites his own blade.

“You turned her against me!”

“You have done that yourself.”

“You will not take them from me!” Vader shouts, stepping around his wife and apprentice.

“Your anger and your lust for power have already done that,” Obi-Wan says, with disgust, as he sheds his cloak. “You have allowed this… Dark lord to twist your mind, until now… Until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.”

Ashoka watches as they circle each other, preparing for a fight. Should Vader attack, he’ll have the advantage. Obi-Wan has yet to ignite his lightsaber. 

“Don’t lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the Dark side as you do,” Vader turns away for a moment, inexplicably, “I have brought peace, freedom justice, and security to  _ my _ new empire!” As Vader rants, Obi-Wan motions for Ashoka and Padme to get on the ship. 

“Your new Empire?” Obi-Wan’s voice is laden with disgust.    
“Don’t make me kill you.”

“Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic! To democracy!”

“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy!” 

“Only a Sith deals in absolutes,” Obi-Wan sighs, pulling out his saber. “I will do what I must.”   
“You will try,” Vader says, as Obi-Wan ignites his saber. He backflips into an attack, but Ashoka pushes Obi-Wan out of the way, catching Vader’s saber between her own. Padme, though she, to Ashoka’s knowledge, had never trained with lightsabers, manages to hold her blade quite close to Vader’s throat as Ashoka keeps his blade trapped.   
“Surrender, Anakin. You’re outmatched. I’ll make sure you receive a fair trial,” Padme promises, tears flowing. 

“Padme,” he breathes, eyes flickering down to the red blade she holds. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Drop your weapon. Lay down on the ground, on your stomach, with your hands over your head.” As he complies, she pulls a pair of force cuffs from her pocket, her blade still very firmly positioned near the back of his head as it follows him to the ground. “Ashoka, use these to bind his wrists together behind his back,” she instructs, then begins to recite warnings to him, under Naboo law. Naboo will not be part of this new empire, she will see to it. “Anakin, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a tribunal. You have the right to legal representation, but it will not be me. You have the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, but your peers are all dead, and you killed most of them yourself.” As she speaks, she has Ashoka stand him up and lead him onto her ship, and she locks him in a cell meant to contain force-sensitives. 

“Sabe, send a message to the people of Naboo. Inform them that, should they still wish to change the constitution as they did so many years ago, they should do so now. Artoo, set a course for home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback is appreciated. After this chapter, I have another interlude, and nothing else written. It will take me some time to write more, because I’m struggling to submit my college transfer apps on time


	7. Interlude: Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoga and Ventress have a discussion, onboard a ship to Alderaan

Asajj Ventress really has no idea why the force has decided that she’s going to be a glorified nanny. First Ashoka, now these younglings. But she is caring for them anyway, taking them to Alderaan with Senator Organa and the little green goblin. In the main compartment of the ship, she sits them all down, and tests them on their ability to levitate things with the force, using the concentration they have on levitating their given objects as a way to teach them meditation with a focal point. They might as well learn something useful, if she’s going to be taking care of them. But soon, they grow tired, and as one by one they fall asleep for a nap, Asajj feels Yoda come in the room. He sits next to her. 

“Teach them, you do? A good teacher, you are, if all your students nap when finished, you are,” he chuckles, and she rolls her eyes.

“Using the force can be exhausting for younglings, as I’m sure you know.”   
“Know this, I do. Mean it, I do. A good teacher, you are. Teach new Jedi, you will. Dark, yes, but light, too, there is in you. Swirl, it does. Neither one nor the other, you are. In the middle, you have found balance. Remarkable, this is.”

Ventress cannot find it in her to be angry at the little green creature for talking down to her as she normally would be. Instead, she sighs. “Ashoka has been a good influence. She brought balance to me.”

“A good Jedi, Ashoka is. Part of the order, maybe not. A Jedi, nonetheless. Balance the force, she will not, but help it be balanced, she will. Trained her to do this, you have. Control light, she knew already. Control darkness, without being overcome by it, you taught. Balance, light and dark together bring. Impart this training on balance to her Master, she will. Become the master, the student will.”


	8. The Queen Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padme delivers her children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I am VERY sorry for abandoning this work for so long- I apparently had an entire chapter written that I never posted. I didn't realize I hadn't posted it, actually. Object permanence and I are not friends. Sorry.

As Padme expected, her message caused some uproar among the people of Naboo. On one hand, Queen Apailana is a very competent Queen. On the other hand, Queen Amidala is beloved of the people, and though Apailana has done well, they still long for Amidala. It goes against all the principles of democracy Padme has fought so long to uphold to takeover the throne from a justly elected ruler such as Apailana, but this is war, and the young Queen knows nothing of it. She abdicates within hours of the message, and soon after, the amendment to allow Amidala to serve another term is ratified. In the emergency election held within the next day, she wins with no contest. As the upheaval occurs, however, Padme has more pressing matters to attend to. 

Sometime in between the encounter on Mustafar and getting to Naboo, she began having contractions. Now, as they get closer together, last longer, she knows it is no false labor. The royal doctors are summoned, and while Obi-Wan supervises the planet’s defenses against the rising empire, Ashoka is by her mother-figure’s side. Padme is so grateful for the Torgruta girl. Looking at her, she knows that this is the kind of person she wants her child to become. Anakin had dreams of her dying in childbirth. She fears that they may yet come true, but with Ashoka loyally by her side, she knows her children will be raised by a good woman, even if it may not be her. 

* * *

Ashoka is, quite frankly, terrified. Her master’s terrible vision of Padme dying in childbirth echoes in her mind. And she can’t help but think that Anakin, despite his crimes, should be present for the birth of his children. Perhaps seeing them would… stop his fall. Bring him back to the light. But perhaps, watching his wife die would cause him to fall further, and kill them all. Hesitantly, she brings up the subject with Padme, “Padme? I… Perhaps Anakin could come and watch? With bound hands and feet? I think… perhaps seeing his children would… I don’t know. Bring him back. In the force, it feels as if they’re the key to balance, if that makes sense.”

She can see Padme thinking. She can see the expression of pain, of betrayal that flickers over her usually serene face. “If you think there is a chance, Ashoka,” she begins, after a bit of deliberation, “Then bring him here. But make sure the bindings are dampening his access to the force. And bring my blaster to me first.” 

Nodding, Ashoka squeezes Padme’s hand, before getting up and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back with your blaster. Then I’ll get him.”

Once she’s taken Padme the blaster, she walks through the palace to the cell block Anakin is being held in, surrounded by force dampening objects and immobilized in ray shields. She turns off the shields, slowly approaching him. “Anakin,” she starts, softly. “I know you likely want nothing more than to kill me for the betrayal you perceive me to have committed. But killing me will do nothing to save Padme. Nor will it get you any closer to meeting your children. I advise you let me put these bindings on you, and then do as instructed.” 

She knows, deep down, that the man in front of her is Vader. That bringing Anakin, the real Anakin, back is going to take a long time. But she’s pleasantly surprised when he holds his hands out, letting her bind him. Leading him out of the cell block, she also makes sure his feet are bound once they leave the force-dampening rooms. Levitating him using the force, she brings him back to Padme’s birthing suite. 

When she gets back into the room, Padme is so much further along than she had been. The doctor confirms that she’s almost fully dilated. How Padme is doing this without painkillers, Ashoka has no idea. But she guides Vader to the seat anyway, letting him sit down next to his wife. The hilt of her lightsaber, though, is pressed against the base of his skull, so it’s not like he has any chances of trying anything. At all. 

She knows that Padme is still reeling from his actions, from his betrayal, yet she is astounded when, instead of ignoring him, Padme takes his flesh hand in hers and squeezes, screaming in pain from the contraction that rips through her. Ashoka watches as Vader tenses up, but lets her grip his hand with unbelievable strength. “Padme,” he breathes out. “Please, Padme,” he begs, and Ashoka’s heart hurts at that. He sounds… broken. 

All Padme can manage to do is scream. Her contractions are close enough, long enough, and she’s dilated enough to begin pushing, so that’s what she does. For her children. As she does, she can feel her child begin to crown. A few more, and the child is born. The doctor hands him off to a nurse, who suctions his mouth, cuts his umbilical cord, and waits. Soon after, he lets out a loud wail, and everyone, including Anakin and Padme, breathes a sigh of relief. Yet Ashoka had mentioned there being more than one. As the nurse checks her son, Padme continues to push. Though her son had been quite fast to come out, she can tell this child will be a bit more stubborn. Ashoka, when she’s content that Vader won’t try anything when he’s so concerned over his child, decides to take the child from the nurse. This child, her brother. She knows she’ll protect him with her life, just as she will the other child. Sitting down in a rocking chair, she slowly rocks the boy, holding him close to her chest. 

It takes another thirty minutes for the boy’s sister to emerge into the world, and when she does, she cries loudly, before the nurse has to intervene in any way. After the girl is cleaned up, the nurse offers her to Padme. Taking her daughter into her arms, the Queen delivers the rest of the afterbirth. Her vitals are strong, there was very little tearing, and overall, she is healthy, just as her children are. And she must be exhausted. The nurse allows Padme to sleep, holding both of her children close. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don't quite know if there is going to be more, after this. Clearly, Padme needs time to heal from childbirth, and Anakin needs time to heal from Sidious's brainwashing, and I actually can't remember if Sidious is even still alive in this fic bc I wrote it so long ago. I think that will have to wait for a sequel, though! Please don't be afraid to nag me for it. I'm taking some pretty intense classes this semester, but I sometimes have time on weekends to write, or during less important classes


	9. Chapter 9

When Padme awakens, her children are cradled against her chest, though someone (likely the nurse) has ensured that they have gotten the chance to nurse. Her breasts are sore from it, and so she sits up, carefully, holding one in each arm. Their names come to her as she gazes upon them. Luke and Leia. They will grow up feeling loved. She knows this, because she knows how deeply she loves them. 

She also knows that Vader is still sitting beside her bed, with bound hands and feet. It seems that, when she didn’t die in childbirth as he’d dreamt, he’d finally relaxed long enough to get some much needed sleep. Padme doesn’t dare wake him by making any noise, but she does turn to study him. The Jedi are under attack, still. Partially because of his actions, partially because of Darth Sidious’s manipulations. Her allies in the Senate, her friends in the Jedi order- they could all be dead by now. Yet, she finds herself preemptively forgiving Anakin for this- for allowing himself to be manipulated so severely. Well, so long as he finds his way back to the light. 

Sighing, Padme opens her mouth. Then, she closes it, calling the nurse in using the button on the side of the bed. She motions to be silent, then hands the nurse the children. The birth was traumatic, and she doesn’t think standing would be a good idea. So Padme asks the nurse to bring her a wheelchair quietly. After placing the children in bassinets, the nurse leaves the room.

It is not the nurse who returns, but Ashoka. She helps Padme into the wheelchair, which is motorized, and then sits next to Vader. “I don’t want to wake him,” Ashoka explains, and Padme nods. “No, don’t wake him,” she shakes her head. “But… put him back in his cell when he wakes up. He may have once been my husband, but that man is gone. Vader must stand trial for his crimes against the Republic and the Jedi. He may be able to argue insanity, but…” Padme sighs. “I am not going to protect him. He slaughtered the Jedi at the temple. What’s left of the order, if anything, will have to decide his fate.”

Ashoka nods. “I expected as much from you, Padme. And, you’re right. He does need to stand trial. But that may not happen for quite some time, and in the meanwhile, we must have something to motivate him to comply,” she points out, glancing over at him. 

“If he’s compliant, he gets to hold his children. If he’s not, he won’t see them,” Padme shrugs. “If he’s very compliant, I… may consider visiting him.”

“Alright, Padme. Should I…” Ashoka motions at the force-dampening cuffs on his wrists. 

“Take them off if he agrees to be compliant. Whatever you do, do  _ not _ allow him to have unconstrained access to the Force. Leave the ones on his ankles. He may hold the children,  _ if  _ he’s being compliant. If he tries anything when you take them off, do not allow him near my children. He may hold them for ten minutes each before you return him to his cell. Make it clear that holding his children is a privilege that I _can_ and _will_ take away.”

“Padme, you’re not taking them with you? The bassinets are built to follow you.”

“No. I have a planet to rule. And his mess to clean up.”


End file.
